Editor,
My father was in civil service, which was a transferable job. As a result, I had to change my school from one district headquarters to the other. I was bullied on the first day in my new school. That was my first encounter with the dangerous game of othering.
Initially, some students behaved as though I was an enemy from outer space. Was it just fun or ritualistic ragging to welcome a fresher? If it were so, then where is its origin? It may have stemmed from the paranoia for anyone outside one’s herd.
Now, what would have happened had my class teacher after calling my roll number asked me in front of those students to prove that I was actually a student of that school? In that case, I would have faced brutal ragging in the hands of a bunch of heartless students and my name could have been published in newspapers under the headline – ‘Ragging took the life of a young student’. Or I might have become a suicide victim.
But should a class teacher ask such a question to a student when his roll number has already been recorded in the attendance register by the authorities? Same question needs to be asked about the legislation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019. Should a government ask some voters to prove whether they are citizens of a country or not after being elected by the votes including the votes of those voters? If they were not citizens, how could the authorities allow them to vote? And how could a government challenge the way it had been elected while completing its term of five years?
Two back-to-back incidents that happened last month brought back my memory of the first day in my new school. Sujit Dutta (my namesake) and Esan Singh were found dead in Ichamati in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district on 27 March, hours after an organisation took out a protest against the CAA.
Debashish Sengupta (37), a resident of Kolkata, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in the house of his maternal uncle in Subhasgram. His father, Tapan Sengupta said, “Since the notification of the CAA, my son has been suffering from tremendous mental trauma and agony and was also in acute fear psychosis for not having all the required documents as shown in the social media and as prescribed in the said notification. On 19 March, 2024, suddenly my son told me that he was going to his maternal uncle in Subhasgram.”
The Centre should take a note about the apprehension someone has expressed in a newspaper after his death, “The moment I formally apply for Indian citizenship, it will be an acknowledgment that I am not an Indian citizen. That is a huge risk.”
Any legislation or political action that can increase the divide between different communities and create fear psychosis in the minds of the voters of our country should be avoided. It could spell disaster in our country which has achieved unity by accepting its rich diversity.
Sujit De,
Kolkata